Just about half-way between the time that Malachi laid down his pen, closing off the Old Testament, and the moment when the living Word would appear on earth, a boy was born in far-off China. Qin Shi Huang (259-210 bc) in his fifty eventful years is credited with unifying China and is recognized as the first emperor of China. His centralized government standardized currency, weights and measures, and the Chinese language. He built a network of roadways and linked together (using 500,000 laborers) the great fortifications of the seven previously warring states, thus linking up the Great Wall. In all, he employed two million people (about 10 percent of China’s population at that time) in constructing his various grand projects.
One of these projects, however, lay hidden from sight until one day in the early spring of 1974. Three men from Xiyang in Shaanxi province (not far from China’s ancient capital, Xi’an) were out digging a well on the edge of the village. Their spades struck a layer of hard earth. They dug further and unearthed a “pottery man,” its legs and feet solid, its head and torso hollow. They didn’t know what to make of it. But a visiting official informed Beijing, and by July of that year an archeological excavation was underway.
Over the next two years, in three great pits, they found nearly 8000 life-sized terracotta warriors with horses and more than 100 wooden war chariots. Each soldier is a unique work of art. Apart from the most obvious differences—their positions in the vanguard, main body, flanks or rearguard; and their roles as archers, infantry, cavalry, charioteers, and various officers—there are more subtle distinctions. Heights vary. So do weights (I noticed that generally the higher the rank the fuller the figure!). But it was the expressions on the faces that amazed me. Some features are lively, anticipating action; others are serious, thoughtful, reserved. It is even possible for Chinese anthropologists to guess from what part of China many of the soldiers would have come. The terracotta army of Qin Shi Huang is heralded by some as “the eighth wonder of the world.”
I couldn’t help thinking of a far grander clay army than the one I saw near Xi’an. I was reminded of the words of 2 Corinthians 4:7 as Paul spoke of the gospel troops sent out to conquer hearts for the Saviour, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” And so it is that in China today the Lord has raised up, and continues to recruit, a mighty army of believers. Unlike the emperor’s soldiers, who were empty, the King of king’s warriors are the repositories of this world’s richest commodity—the glorious plan of salvation. Fragile they may seem, but every attempt to break them only exposes the treasure inside. The words with which Paul continues could well have been written about the Lord’s underground army in China: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10). What stories they might tell how the Lord Jesus has been manifested through their suffering for Him!
Although the present government of China does not recognize those in the unregistered church, conservative estimates place the number at 75 to 100 million. Some who work there say it is not unreasonable to think that, like the day of Pentecost, there are perhaps 3,000 saved every day.
I dare say the Christians in China—without our financial resources, without our religious freedom—are doing a fair bit better job at fulfilling the Great Commission than are believers in the West. But the ongoing need of China is enormous. Its population increases (in spite of massive birth control efforts) by the population of Australia every year. Various articles in this issue will bring before you some of the needs not only in China but elsewhere, and some tips on how to enlist in God’s terracotta army.
Written by J. B. Nicholson Jr